In the wireless and 50 ohm industries, very little standardization exists for equipment ports other than the broad adoption of interface contact specifications laid out in MIL-SPEC documents. While adherence to the standard contact dimensions ensures good signal transmission characteristics, the external interface configuration, which affects weatherproofing of connections, is not adequately defined. Many equipment ports are threaded down to their bases; nuts and lockwashers are often threaded onto those threads of the equipment port, as well as having single or double “D” cuts. Ports which follow the general appearance of the port specified by the MIL-SPEC standards for N-female connectors range broadly in the particular dimensions of various surfaces which might be employed for sealing purposes, thus offering only a slight advantage over the fully threaded or D-cut types of ports.
Current N-female equipment ports are not readily sealed, inviting entry of environmental elements. For instance, a typical port meets the MIL-SPEC requirements relating to the inner and outer contacts, but fails to prevent the ingress of environmental elements, such as moisture migration.
Thus, there is a need for an equipment port having a structural configuration that meets the MIL-SPEC standards for interface contact specifications, but also facilitates the formation of one or more environmental seals when a corresponding cable connector is advanced onto the equipment port.